Followed by an Organizational Meeting of the UW Student/Worker Coalition

uwstudentworkercoalition@gmail.com

WE REJECT THE RHETORIC OF THE "ECONOMIC CRISIS" THAT CLAIMS CUTS TO EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SPENDING IN GENERAL ARE A NECESSARY PART OF OUR REALITY. HERE’S WHY:

The UW Student/Worker Coalition has organized in response to the drastic budget cuts at UW and the accompanying increased hardships that they bring to on-campus workers and students. We had two walkouts last spring, one of which was the largest demonstration on campus in years.

The problem of budget cuts at UW is part of a much larger problem that is shared by the majority of the world – folks who are denied access to a "quality" education and then are told that their only option is to submit themselves to the will of those with capital by working as so-called "unskilled" labor. As it stands there exists only a very small fraction of jobs that guarantee that workers have enough to support themselves and those that they are responsible for supporting.

As working class youth, we have been told we need to pursue higher education to progress to a position where we can demand more pay for our "higher-skilled" labor and thus better provide for ourselves and our families.

Because of decades of struggles, poor folks, people of color, LGBT folks, and folks with disabilities have won marginal access to higher education.

Now the legislators and Regents are using the "economic crisis", which was created by the wealthy who exploit our communities, as an excuse to take away even this marginal access, turning UW into an even more elitist institution while also cutting off access to other "public" universities, "community" colleges and even public primary and secondary schools.

WE WANT A WORLD IN WHICH EDUCATION SERVES THE MUTUAL BENEFIT OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE. WE DENOUNCE THE ELITIST MODEL OF EDUCATION AS IT EXISTS TODAY WHICH IS ONLY SERVING TO CONTINUALLY RECREATE THE CLASS, RACE, AND GENDER OPPRESION.

WE NEED A MOVEMENT COMPOSED OF EVERYONE WHO SEEKS A MORE JUST WORLD AND WHO ALSO BELIEVE EDUCATION OUGHT TO SERVE TO CREATE THAT WORLD, NOT PREVENT IT FROM EXISTING